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When my daughter asked me last winter to help with flowers at her wedding last weekend, I told her that the reason florists get the big bucks is that they can sit down with you in February and tell you exactly what they can deliver in August. Go with Dad, you take your chances.

Talking with friends and co-workers, some of whom have grown flowers professionally, I quickly realized that there was no way I could grow and transport cutflowers to the wedding venue three hours away — especially given that we’d need to be there on Wednesday to start setting up for the Saturday wedding. So I focused most of my efforts on growing containers to be used as a background for the ceremony.

I had a general idea of what it would look like, but it wasn’t until just a week before the wedding that I pulled all the containers scattered around the yard into one place. Here’s what the prototype looked liike:

Elly graciously offered to transport the containers in the Airstream she’s rebuilding. I was able to keep the pots dry enough that they didn’t leak. But there were more ants and other insects scurrying around than I’d anticipated.

Everything transported very well. Temps were only in the 70s that day. So even though I limited their water, the plants didn’t go into shock. I was able to get them unloaded and into the shade and watered, and set them up the next morning:

Dee at the CSA that our daughter and son-in-law belong to did a great job on the table arrangements, delivering them the day of the ceremony.

And she did a great job with the bouquets and boutonnieres:

There were lots of floral themes going on in the ties …

… and the dresses.

Hazy morning after the ceremony at the location …